Dave Remembers: Like a Cover Band

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Posted: Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:13 am
http://www.swtimes.com/features/arti...cc4c002e0.html

In Concert: Cause Inspires Dave Mason By Scott Smith
TIMES RECORD • [email protected] The Times Record | 0 comments

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Dave Mason will dig deep into his solo career and his time with rock band Traffic next month in Fayetteville.

Known for the songs “We Just Disagree,” “Feelin’ Alright,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” “Hole in My Shoe” and “Only You Know and I Know,” the singer-guitarist will perform rock, pop, folk-rock and other styles for a fundraising concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 28 at George’s Majestic Lounge, 519 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville.

The concert is part of Work Vessels for Veterans, a national, all-volunteer program co-founded by Mason that raises money and obtains work supplies and start-up tools for military veterans wishing to re-enter the civilian work force. Funds raised at the event will benefit Arkansas veteran Rick Brown, who was injured while on active duty and has a permanent seizure disorder, Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“We’ve helped 65 veterans start their businesses, and we’ve gotten them everything from laptops to some farm equipment,” said the 65-year-old Mason during a recent telephone interview. “Those businesses range from blueberry farms in Florida to boating and trucking businesses across the country, and once the veteran’s business is profitable, that veteran begins to give back some proceeds that will be used to help other veterans. It’s a pay-it-forward deal for veterans.”

Mason, who co-founded Traffic with Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi before recording with Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac, said he was “eager” to help Brown, who is hoping to acquire tools and open a workshop, where he can build guitars and sell and donate them to help other individuals and families.

“We do want people to know that we don’t look just for money,” said Mason, a native of Worcester, England, who now lives in Santa Barbara, Calif. “We look for people who can donate land, tools and equipment so we can pass that on to veterans who need help.”

Mason said his passion for Work Vessels for Veterans mirrors the team-player attitude he held as a young musician. Even though creative differences with Winwood edged Mason out of Traffic a second time following a 1971 tour, he sounds bitter-free.

“I thought Traffic’s ‘Welcome to the Canteen’ album was going to be a reunion thing for us, but it just didn’t happen for me,” Mason said before laughing. “So I did a solo career, partly out of not knowing what I was going to do next.”

Mason played acoustic guitar on Hendrix’s studio version of “All Along the Watchtower,” and he supplied some of the thundering drums and the strange-sounding horn to The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” song. When asked why some websites claim he was uncredited on “Street Fighting Man,” Mason laughed.

“I don’t know if the band wrote me down on the list of credits or not, but all I know is I got my platinum album award for the song’s album, ‘Beggars Banquet,’” he said while still laughing.

At the dawn of the 1970s, Mason briefly joined Eric Clapton for the popular band, Derek and the Dominos, but Clapton’s work ethic at that time saw Mason replaced by Duane Allman before the group entered the studio.

“At that time, Eric had gone down the dark path,” Mason said. “I think it’s no secret now — it’s been widely reported — that Eric got involved in heroin, and I got bored with the band because there was a lot of sitting around. I had to move on, but I’d love to work with Eric Clapton any day now.”

In 1977, Mason scored his highest-charting single with his version of Jim Krueger’s “We Just Disagree,” which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The song’s charm carried through the decades, inspiring country singer Billy Dean to re-record it and release it as a single in 1993.

Working in Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1990s seemed like another solid chance for Mason to get near the top of the charts, yet what looked great on paper didn’t gel as well on the stage.

“That was kind of an odd time, because Christine McVie was with us when we recorded that ‘Time’ album, but she wouldn’t go on the road,” Mason said before laughing. “For me, it was kind of like being in a Fleetwood Mac cover band, and Warner Brothers did nothing to promote the record then. It just fell apart before I left and (Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks) came back to Fleetwood Mac.”

Mason’s “Save Me,” a 1980 collaboration with Michael Jackson, happened with fewer road bumps.

“Michael Jackson was in the studio next to me, working on his ‘Thriller’ album,” Mason said. “I had originally wanted someone to sing a high harmony with me, and with Michael working next door, I said to myself, ‘Well, Michael can sing high.’ So I went next door and asked him during a break, and Michael said he’d be right over. It was a fun experience.”